Glorious Light Of Christ
Frank
shows in the Gospel of Christ:
there on the cross,
Christ shows his glory:
he our Righteous Substitute,
who went to the cross for us,
to take the penalty for our sins
as though our sins were his,
so that we could have eternal life
as though his righteousness were ours.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us:
we pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God.
For he hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin;
that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him.
(2 Corinthians 5:20-21 KJV)
Trust Christ to be
your Righteous Substitute,
who imputes his own righteousness to you,
so that you have eternal life.
That is the Scriptural Gospel
that Christ showed to enable
the Protestant Reformation,
but that is hardly heard today.
Christ is God, the Son of God,
who imputes to us his own righteousness,
which is the righteousness of God himself.
That is imputed (not actually imparted) to us
because only God could ever be that righteous.
But Christ went to the cross and paid for our sins,
so that he could regard his own perfect righteousness
as though it were ours, so that he could give us eternal life.
Christ gives people faith to trust him to be
their Righteous Substitute:
that is the only way anyone is ever saved.
The righteousness required for salvation
is that of Christ himself:
our own so-called "righteousness"
is infinitely short of that required,
and could never save anyone at all.
All trust for salvation must be on Christ alone
to be our Righteous Substitute,
taking our place in the sight of God,
with absolutely no trust on us whatsoever
(that is: no trust on our repentance,
surrender, commitment, baptism,
deeds, giving, endurance, or our anything).
Christ lived a perfect life for us, died for us,
and then in triumph rose again.
On the cross, Christ, our Righteous Substitute,
paid for our sins and became our righteousness
for salvation forever.